Metallica Adds 2018-19 North American Dates To “WorldWired Tour”

Heavy metal band Metallica announced an extension of its current North American tour, adding 34 dates across the U.S and Canada. The current tour, “WorldWired,” began in 2016 and was scheduled to wrap on May 11 in Helsinki, but after taking the summer off, the band will add a 12th leg., beginning in Madison, Wisc. on Sept. 2.

Metallica, which first went on tour in 1983, has been on the road regularly for much of the last four decades. The latest tour will be its sixth with more than 100 dates – the longest being the 1988-89 “Damaged Justice Tour,” which featured 222 dates across both of the Americas, Europe and Asia. The next longest tours were the 2008-10 “World Magnetic Tour” (187 dates), 1991-92 “Wherever We May Roam Tour” (174), 1986-87 “Damage, Inc. Tour” (142), 1996-97 “Poor Touring Me Tour” (139), and 2003-04 “Madly in Anger With the World Tour” (137).

The current tour, which was originally scheduled for 95 shows, is now up to 129.

The new tour dates will take Metallica to sites they haven’t played in decades, according to Consequence of Sound, including Grand Forks, N.D., where it hasn’t played in 30 years. The band will also visit El Paso, Birmingham, Ala. and Sioux Falls, S.D., all for the first time in 25 years. The tour is based on Metallica’s latest release, “Hardwired …. to Self-Destruct,” released in 2016.

The added dates open in the Midwest, wind into Canada for shows in Winnipeg (Sept. 13) and Saskatoon (Sept. 15), before returning to the U.S. for a show in Milwaukee on Oct. 16, followed by the swing through the East, ending in Albany, N.Y. on Oct. 29. Metallica will take a month-long break before regrouping in Las Vegas on Nov. 26 for seven shows in the West, winding up in Fresno, Calif. (Dec. 9). The band will break until 2019, when it performs 14 shows in the Midwest and South. The final show is scheduled for Grand Rapids, Mich. on March 13, 2019.

Among the offerings for tour tickets, which go on sale Tuesday, is a special “Where I May Roam Black Ticket,” which offers fans floor access for any North American date. Only 250 of these tickets will be available at a cost of $598.

Prior to the “WorldWired Tour,” Metallica stuck to summer tours through the 2010s, including the 2015 “Lords of Summer Tour,” which ran from May 9-Sept. 19, 2015. The band did one tour per year from 2011-2015, before kicking off the current tour.

Considered one of the founders to “thrash metal,” Metallica has won nine Grammys, the most recent in 2009 for its “Death Magnetic” album, and has released 10 studio albums to date. Founding members Lars Ulrich (drummer) and James Hetfield (vocalist) anchor the band, which also includes lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo.